NSE LIVE! Equities in tight trades as bargain-hunting deepens

Quoted equities continued to show resilience and were close to break-even yesterday as increased demand for sectoral leaders moderated the widespread selling sentiments that have also continued to chip at values of several stocks.

Gains recorded by large-cap stocks such as Unilever Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, Total Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, PZ Cussons Nigeria and Mobil Oil Nigeria counterbalanced losses recorded by a large group of stocks that equally included fewer large-cap stocks, leaving the market with a marginal loss of N9 billion or 0.10 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), slipped from 27,314.00 points to close at 27,287.89 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE also dropped marginally from N9.391 trillion to close at N9.382 trillion.

“Sustained decline in share prices have driven the market to its three-year low and built up average year-to-date return to -21.26 per cent.

The market saw increased in turnover with the exchange of 383.38 million shares valued at N5.34 billion in 2,864 deals. The increase in turnover underlined the intensified bargain-hunting that have characterized trading in recent sessions as investors seek to rebalance their portfolios with low-priced equities.
FSDH Securities-a Lagos-based dealer at the NSE, said investors have remained cautious but it noted the 241.8 per cent increase in value of trade.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities show resilience in marginal decline

Sectoral review still showed widespread negative sentiments. The NSE Oil and Gas Index dropped by 3.8 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index also declined by 1.0 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dropped by three basis points while the NSE Banking Index slipped by one basis point. On the other hand, The NSE Industrial Goods Index rallied 1.3 per cent gain.
“Given moderation in losses today and cheap market valuation, we believe bargain hunters may begin to take position in the near term,” Afrinvest Securities stated in post-trading review.
Forte Oil led the 27-stock losers’ list with a loss of N13.08 to close at N248.65. Seplat Petroleum Development Company followed with a loss of N10 to close at N207. Nestle Nigeria declined by N3.01 to close at N807. Nigerian Breweries lost N1.97 to close at N116 while UAC of Nigeria and GlaxoSmithKline Consumers Nigeria dropped by N1.34 each to close at N25.61 and N36.66 respectively.
On the upside, Unilever Nigeria led the 17-stock gainers’ list with a gain of N4.08 to close at N43.98. Lafarge Africa followed with a gain of N2.14 to close at N91.25. Total Nigeria rallied N1.93 to close at N147. Guinness Nigeria added N1.82 to close at N123.12 while Dangote Cement rose by 95 kobo to close at N158 per share.

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